MOSCOW, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Italian and Russian national soccer teams will have a friendly meet, February 9. Russians are giving up their usual colors to wear black-and-white shirts and armbands in anti-racist protest. Novosti heard the news from the Russian Football Union press service.
Russian athletes have chosen this highly original form to join the Stand Up-Speak, an anti-racist campaign recently launched in European soccer. The team will call fans to join in, and say a resolute "no" to racism, which tramples down the fair play principle.
The Stand Up-Speak idea belongs to Thierry Henri, French national team and the UK's Arsenal forward. Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Ruud van Nistelroy and other stars joined the initiative. Thierry won support of an athletic equipment manufacturing company, which designed the protest uniform-in particular, the twisted armbands that are coming as principal campaign symbol.
